Editors to be Posted Absent at Industry Summit

Barely any daily national newspaper editors will be attending a summit convened for today, by a government minister, looking at the future of the Scottish newspaper industry – with at least three saying that, as far as they know, they hadn’t even been invited.

A straw poll held yesterday by allmediascotland.com found the editors of The Scotsman, Scottish Sun and The Courier were not aware of any invitation having been issued. While the Scottish Daily Mail editor, Chris Williams, will be attending, his counterparts at the Press and Journal, Daily Record and Scottish Daily Express will not. It’s not known whether or not The Herald will be represented.

The summit, taking place in Glasgow, was a response by Scottish Government minister, Jim Mather, to disquiet expressed last month in the Scottish Parliament at staff re-organisation plans at the Herald group of newspapers. In December, all but a handful of around 250 staff were told they had to re-apply for around 40 fewer posts.

During a parliamentary debate, Mather – Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism – ruled out government intervention, saying the Herald group’s action was not illegal. But he promised a summit meeting which yesterday was promising the attendance of “some of the country’s leading newspaper editors, controllers, trade unionists and academics”.

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